An Arranged Pregnancy with a Jerk

Chapter 10

Chapter 10: New Plan

Seven hours of painting. Who knew it would take that long to paint a simple nursery? And as the sun rose, Allison and Connor finished the border and sat back to admire their work. Halfway through, Connor decided he would test his newly found art skills with a cute border of some clouds and sun with birds flying around. It sounds simple, but Allison soon discovered that Connor was a great artist, but he made sure every detail was perfect. And of course that left Allison to do all the other painting. Yes, the pregnant woman. 

But, they were finally done. And as the clock chimed seven o'clock, the doorbell rang. Connor rushed out in paint-soaked clothes and came back looking confused but still smiling. "I didn't know you did this!"

"I didn't either," Allison responded. She watched as two workers pulled box after box into the nursery, dropped a note on the top of the nearest pile, and left without a word. Allison shot Connor a look. "What's all this?"

"I thought you-"

"And I thought you-"

They looked at each other for a moment until Allison finally laughed and walked over to a box, expecting to find some horrible thing that her mother had sent, and was instead shocked. Connor picked up the note and read aloud as Allison picked up the item on top.

"To Allison: 

I thought you'd need this after what happened at the store today. And after I saw your taste in decorating... it was just easier to do it myself. ;) Enjoy!

Love,

Mark.

P.S. You might want to check your wallet. You really should make it harder for people to steal your credit cards."

Alison checked her wallet and sure enough, everything was missing! She showed Connor the contents of the first box and together they unpacked everything. By the time the last box had been flattened and sent to the garage, they had an entire nursery full of everything they needed in a wonderful lavender and sea green pattern. Allison couldn't believe Mark had gone to all this trouble, but that's what friends were for, she supposed. Though she doubted that she would have gone to these lengths for any of her friends.

She had also received a call from her doctor that rescheduled her appointment for Monday. She called Mark to make the "fat clothes" shopping today for the days when she exploded with the weight of the baby.

"Mark?" She asked after he answered on the second ring.

"No, it's Michael Jackson. Of course it's me!"

"Thank you for the present," she said, ignoring his joke.

Mark cleared his throat. "You got that? I thought it would get there tomorrow morning. Were you surprised? Did you love it?"

"Of course I was surprised! And the patterns look great with the wall color, you just have to see it. Let's shop for clothes today and you can come here with your boyfriend for dinner later. I can call Jennifer and Cathie and even Kim! They can bring their boyfriends and we can have tons of fun! Cool?"

Mark paused. "I thought Kim wasn't speaking to me after I didn't come to her wedding?"

Allison sighed. She had forgotten about that. Mark had made some excuse about going on a "Graduation Vacation"  with his parents and cousins that weekend. But Nikki had sworn she had seen him at the mall with his boyfriend that day. Kim had never forgiven him and now they still weren't speaking. "Look, if you explain to her you really were on vacation..."

"But what if- what if I wasn't?"

Allison drew a quick breath. "What?! You told her you were on vacation!!!"

"Well... no. Nikki really did see me at the mall that day."

Allison nearly dropped the phone out of anger. When Connor walked over to see what was wrong, she shooed him away with her hand and a frown. He nodded, understanding, and went to shower for school. Allison walked to the garage to get into her car, not bothering to change. "How could you do that to her? She was one of your closest friends!"

"I know, I know! I just couldn't stand it, you know?"

"Stand what?" ALlison asked as she backed out of the driveway. 

"Stand..." Mark sighed and she could hear he was walking down the street. "Stand seeing another happy couple get married. I can't have that, you know? I can never get married, never have my dream wedding, never have a first dance with my true love! I came to you because you're my best friend, but Kimmy... she's always looked down on me. She has never seemed to want to know what's new in my life. It's been her, her her. And I couldn't stand to see her and her wonderful boyfriend go off and get married."

"Mark." Allison paused as she nearly plowed into a mailbox. She wasn't the best driver, and talking on the phone wasn't helping. "You could have that! There are bills in like five states that could pass, and then you could have your dream wedding! And who says it has to be a wedding? Just have some giant love-party thing! We'd support you and I know Kimmy would be there for you."

Allison parked on the street and got out of her car. Mark walked up at that exact minute and hung up his phone. "She would?"

"Yes!" Allison reached out and gripped Mark's arm tightly. "She loves you! She just... she has a hard time figuring you out. She was crushed when you didn't come to her wedding! Did you know you almost made her cry on the wedding day when you wouldn't be one of her bridesmaids?"

Mark straightened up and looked at her with wide eyes. "She did?" Allison nodded and Mark reached out to hug her. "Okay. I'll apologize. Shouldn't you tell Connor to call everybody while we're shopping?"

Allison jumped and dialed quickly. "Yep!" Connor answered quickly.

"Hey! Could you call everyone and... why are you bouncing up and down?" Allison could hear him jumping on the tile floor in the kitchen.

"I have a lot of energy!"

Allison squinted against the sun and sighed. "You had coffee, didn't you?"

"Coffee? Coffee? COFFEE! Why yes I did and it is mighty good. Why don't you let me drink this every day?!"

"Because you get hyper. Now, I need you to call Jennifer-"

"Uh-huh!"

"-And Cathie-"

"Yep!"

"-And Kimmy-"

"No problem!"

"-And Mark's boyfriend and invite them to a dinner party tonight, okay? Oh, and call that chef that comes on Sundays to cook our dinner and have him make something nice and delicious. Got that?"

"Call, dinner, chef. GOT IT! See you soon! Oh, do you think we should get one of those cappuccino maker things? It's soooooo good!"

"No, Connor, just do what I say and get to class on time, okay? And don't drink any more coffee!"

Allison hung up the phone and glanced at Mark. "Ready to shop?" He nodded and they stepped into the store, ready to get some fat clothes.

***
Okay, that was kinda short, but get ready for a great chapter coming! Probably tomorrow, or the day after!! So, new comment question: Who's your favorite and least favorite character?! Lemme know in the comment section belowwwwwwwww! LOVE YOU GUYS! Thanks for the support!

Write On!

<3 SnazzyReader